Overview

Reviews (1)

I'm a retired newspaper copy editor. As a freelancer I've copyedited and proofread books in a variety of genres for adults, young adults, and middle graders, and indexed middle grade history and biography titles.

My personal interests and experience include architecture and building construction, natural history and the environment, agriculture, gardening, forestry, beekeeping . . .

The Portfolio shows some titles I’ve worked on recently, as well as some of my favorites from years past. They're a mixture of books I copyedited and ones I proofread, along with a few I indexed.

Most of my experience has been with traditional book publishers, but I’m looking forward to working directly with authors.

Copy editor

The Free Lance-Star

Translator, French to English

freelance

January, 1993
–
December, 2000
(almost 8 years)

Translator of nonfiction books for adults and children, patents, regulations, corporate and personal documents. I no longer accept translation jobs, but you’d be surprised how often the experience comes in handy.

self-employed and for various companies

Environmentalist

volunteer

January, 1967
–
Present
(almost 52 years)

Active with local environmental organizations, especially those involved in river conservation; served on Stafford County (Virginia) Wetlands Board and on Rappahannock State Scenic River Advisory Board

Portfolio (27 selected works)

The true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indiana, masterfully told by National Book Award winner Phil Hoose.By winning the state high school basketball championship in 1955, ten teens from an Indianapolis school meant to be the centerpiece of racially segregated education in the state shattered the myth of their inferiority. T... read more

The true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indiana, masterfully told by National Book Award winner Phil Hoose.By winning the state high school basketball championship in 1955, ten teens from an Indianapolis school meant to be the centerpiece of racially segregated education in the state shattered the myth of their inferiority. T... read more

In a debut historical novel about the Great Migration a boy discovers Chicago's postwar South Side and the poetry of Langston Hughes. When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bul... read more

In a debut historical novel about the Great Migration a boy discovers Chicago's postwar South Side and the poetry of Langston Hughes. When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bul... read more

All aboard for a fast-paced, Jazz Age–era murder mystery set aboard a Chicago-bound train!It’s 1923, and thirteen-year-old Bobby Lee Claremont is leaving the Sisters of Charitable Mercyorphanage in New Orleans, certain a better life awaits in Chicago’s glamorous-sounding mob scene. Buthis plans unravel when he boards his train and meets the recently widowed Nanette O’Halloran, her twotraveling... read more

All aboard for a fast-paced, Jazz Age–era murder mystery set aboard a Chicago-bound train!It’s 1923, and thirteen-year-old Bobby Lee Claremont is leaving the Sisters of Charitable Mercyorphanage in New Orleans, certain a better life awaits in Chicago’s glamorous-sounding mob scene. Buthis plans unravel when he boards his train and meets the recently widowed Nanette O’Halloran, her twotraveling... read more

Orion has survived the tunnels of Outpost Five, filled with mutant creatures and dangers around every bend. She has traversed the cordons, exposed to the radiation of the flash curtain and hunted by forces that want her stopped, dead or alive. Now, with Dram by her side, she has made it to the safety of the mountain provinces, where free Conjurors live and practice their craft of manipulating ... read more

Orion has survived the tunnels of Outpost Five, filled with mutant creatures and dangers around every bend. She has traversed the cordons, exposed to the radiation of the flash curtain and hunted by forces that want her stopped, dead or alive. Now, with Dram by her side, she has made it to the safety of the mountain provinces, where free Conjurors live and practice their craft of manipulating ... read more

A behind-the-scenes exploration of a LEGO master's body of work―for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages.Kids love building with LEGO bricks, and so do "professional kids" like Sean Kenney. After twelve years writing code and designing websites for major corporations, Sean pursued his dream of making LEGO art. The New York Times calls his work the "artistic elite" of LEGO building. Today, Sean has fou... read more

A behind-the-scenes exploration of a LEGO master's body of work―for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages.Kids love building with LEGO bricks, and so do "professional kids" like Sean Kenney. After twelve years writing code and designing websites for major corporations, Sean pursued his dream of making LEGO art. The New York Times calls his work the "artistic elite" of LEGO building. Today, Sean has fou... read more

Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe, but in the Pacific, American soldiers face an enemy who will not surrender, despite a massive and mounting death toll. Meanwhile, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists are preparing to test the deadliest weapon known to mankind. Newly inaugurated president Harry Truman faces the most important politic... read more

Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe, but in the Pacific, American soldiers face an enemy who will not surrender, despite a massive and mounting death toll. Meanwhile, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists are preparing to test the deadliest weapon known to mankind. Newly inaugurated president Harry Truman faces the most important politic... read more

”Inspiring profiles of six 20th-century trailblazers.”―Kirkus Reviews Super Women celebrates the scientific as well as the social significance of six incredible women who broke new ground with their research, busted through glass ceilings with their careers, and advanced humanity's understanding of our world in the process. These amazing women defied prejudice to succeed in the sciences using ... read more

”Inspiring profiles of six 20th-century trailblazers.”―Kirkus Reviews Super Women celebrates the scientific as well as the social significance of six incredible women who broke new ground with their research, busted through glass ceilings with their careers, and advanced humanity's understanding of our world in the process. These amazing women defied prejudice to succeed in the sciences using ... read more

When thirteen-year-old Rose Solomon's brother, Abe, left El Paso, he told the family he was heading to Brooklyn. But Rose discovers the truth the day she picks up the newspaper at Pickens General Store and spies a group photograph captioned The Southwestern Scourge of 1915! There stands Abe alongside none other than Pancho Villa and his army! Rose is furious about Abe's lie; fearful for his sa... read more

When thirteen-year-old Rose Solomon's brother, Abe, left El Paso, he told the family he was heading to Brooklyn. But Rose discovers the truth the day she picks up the newspaper at Pickens General Store and spies a group photograph captioned The Southwestern Scourge of 1915! There stands Abe alongside none other than Pancho Villa and his army! Rose is furious about Abe's lie; fearful for his sa... read more

When Gwendolyn Bloom’s father vanishes, she sets off on a journey she never bargained for. Traveling under a new identity in a world of assassins, spies, and criminal masterminds, she uncovers a disturbing truth. To bring her father back alive, she must become every bit as cruel as the men holding him captive.Taken meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Bourne Identity in this action-pa... read more

When Gwendolyn Bloom’s father vanishes, she sets off on a journey she never bargained for. Traveling under a new identity in a world of assassins, spies, and criminal masterminds, she uncovers a disturbing truth. To bring her father back alive, she must become every bit as cruel as the men holding him captive.Taken meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Bourne Identity in this action-pa... read more

In 1954, one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the twentieth Century aimed to end school segregation in the United States. Although known as Brown v. Board of Education, the ruling applied not just to the case of Linda Carol Brown, an African American third grader refused entry to an all-white Topeka, Kansas school, but to cases involving children in South Carolina, Delaware, ... read more

In 1954, one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the twentieth Century aimed to end school segregation in the United States. Although known as Brown v. Board of Education, the ruling applied not just to the case of Linda Carol Brown, an African American third grader refused entry to an all-white Topeka, Kansas school, but to cases involving children in South Carolina, Delaware, ... read more

In an enthralling book, Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman provides a succinct account of perhaps the most puzzling and contentious of America’s wars. Describing how a superpower caught up in Cold War politics became increasingly enmeshed in a conflict over 8,000 miles away, he then explains why twenty years later an exit was so difficult. In words and photographs he chronicles the unfolding ev... read more

In an enthralling book, Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman provides a succinct account of perhaps the most puzzling and contentious of America’s wars. Describing how a superpower caught up in Cold War politics became increasingly enmeshed in a conflict over 8,000 miles away, he then explains why twenty years later an exit was so difficult. In words and photographs he chronicles the unfolding ev... read more

It all begins when Alexander H. Gory Jr. passes around a notebook in which he reveals a tantalizing secret: he has proof that their teacher, Mrs. Penrose, is a vampire. Soon the entire class is speculating and adding their opinions to the notebook until . . . it lands in Mrs. Penrose’s hands. It turns out that Mrs. Penrose has been keeping a secret: she is expecting a baby. But since the noteb... read more

It all begins when Alexander H. Gory Jr. passes around a notebook in which he reveals a tantalizing secret: he has proof that their teacher, Mrs. Penrose, is a vampire. Soon the entire class is speculating and adding their opinions to the notebook until . . . it lands in Mrs. Penrose’s hands. It turns out that Mrs. Penrose has been keeping a secret: she is expecting a baby. But since the noteb... read more

Strudel, a homeless dachshund, loves listening to Jake read from Chief, Dog of the Old West at the animal shelter. When Jake decides to adopt him, Strudel vows to be as brave and loyal as Chief. Only trying to fend off danger in his new home leads to trouble when Strudel makes mistakes such as shredding a "rattlesnake" that is actually a garden hose. But despite Strudel’s humorous miscalculati... read more

Strudel, a homeless dachshund, loves listening to Jake read from Chief, Dog of the Old West at the animal shelter. When Jake decides to adopt him, Strudel vows to be as brave and loyal as Chief. Only trying to fend off danger in his new home leads to trouble when Strudel makes mistakes such as shredding a "rattlesnake" that is actually a garden hose. But despite Strudel’s humorous miscalculati... read more

In 1940, nine-year-old Anna Bauman and her parents are among 300,000 Polish Jews struggling to survive the wretched conditions in the Warsaw ghetto. Anna draws the attention of Jolanta (the code name for the real-life Resistance spy Irena Sendler, who smuggled hundreds of children out of the ghetto.) Jolanta wants to help Anna escape. Anna’s mother drills her day and night, teaching her a new ... read more

In 1940, nine-year-old Anna Bauman and her parents are among 300,000 Polish Jews struggling to survive the wretched conditions in the Warsaw ghetto. Anna draws the attention of Jolanta (the code name for the real-life Resistance spy Irena Sendler, who smuggled hundreds of children out of the ghetto.) Jolanta wants to help Anna escape. Anna’s mother drills her day and night, teaching her a new ... read more

A hilarious and moving memoir of growing up Iranian in America, and the quest to make it in Hollywood without having to wear a turban, tote a bomb, or get kicked in the face by Chuck Norris.When he first started out in show business, Maz Jobrani endured suggestions that he spice up his stand-up act by wearing “the outfit,” fielded questions about rising gas prices, and got called an F’in Eye-r... read more

A hilarious and moving memoir of growing up Iranian in America, and the quest to make it in Hollywood without having to wear a turban, tote a bomb, or get kicked in the face by Chuck Norris.When he first started out in show business, Maz Jobrani endured suggestions that he spice up his stand-up act by wearing “the outfit,” fielded questions about rising gas prices, and got called an F’in Eye-r... read more

If Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing separating straightedge Skylar from art school is three months of summer… until Skylar's mother loses her job, and Skylar realizes her dreams may be slipping out of reach.Josh had a different escape route: the Marines... read more

If Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing separating straightedge Skylar from art school is three months of summer… until Skylar's mother loses her job, and Skylar realizes her dreams may be slipping out of reach.Josh had a different escape route: the Marines... read more

When the albino rat Billycan left Trillium at the end of The White Assassin, he fled to the island of Tosca. There, here learns that a former ally, working undercover in Nightshade City, is plotting to free Killdeer's imprisoned evil generals and seize power. He races back to Trillium to join in the coup -- but on which side? So begins the gripping conclusion to Hilary Wagner's Nightshade Chro... read more

When the albino rat Billycan left Trillium at the end of The White Assassin, he fled to the island of Tosca. There, here learns that a former ally, working undercover in Nightshade City, is plotting to free Killdeer's imprisoned evil generals and seize power. He races back to Trillium to join in the coup -- but on which side? So begins the gripping conclusion to Hilary Wagner's Nightshade Chro... read more

“A funny yet surprisingly nuanced look at the legends and ideas of the self-help industry” (People, 3.5 stars), Promise Land explores the American devotion to self-improvement—even as the author attempts some deeply personal improvements of her own.Raised by a child psychologist who was himself the author of numerous self-help books, as an adult Jessica Lamb-Shapiro found herself both repelled... read more

“A funny yet surprisingly nuanced look at the legends and ideas of the self-help industry” (People, 3.5 stars), Promise Land explores the American devotion to self-improvement—even as the author attempts some deeply personal improvements of her own.Raised by a child psychologist who was himself the author of numerous self-help books, as an adult Jessica Lamb-Shapiro found herself both repelled... read more

In the tradition of The Year of Magical Thinking and What Remains, this breathtaking memoir by a young Army widow shares her heartbreaking, candid story about recovering from her husband's death.In this powerful memoir, a young woman loses her husband twenty years after her own mother was widowed, and overcomes two generations of tragedy to discover that both hope and love endure. Artis Hender... read more

In the tradition of The Year of Magical Thinking and What Remains, this breathtaking memoir by a young Army widow shares her heartbreaking, candid story about recovering from her husband's death.In this powerful memoir, a young woman loses her husband twenty years after her own mother was widowed, and overcomes two generations of tragedy to discover that both hope and love endure. Artis Hender... read more

Raised by her pirate father on a Mississippi keeler, River is a half-feral river rat and proud of it. When her powerful father disappears in the great earthquake of 1811, she is on the run from buccaneers, including Jean Laffite, who hope to claim her father's territory and his buried treasure. But the ruthless rivals do not count on getting a run for their money from a plucky slip of a girl d... read more

Raised by her pirate father on a Mississippi keeler, River is a half-feral river rat and proud of it. When her powerful father disappears in the great earthquake of 1811, she is on the run from buccaneers, including Jean Laffite, who hope to claim her father's territory and his buried treasure. But the ruthless rivals do not count on getting a run for their money from a plucky slip of a girl d... read more

The exclusive, authorized biography of the late Deadliest Catch star, written by his two sons: “outrageous tales of a man who lived without restraint, like a modern-day mythical figure” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).The electrifying behind-the-scenes story of the Deadliest Catch star, from his own two sons Prior to his untimely death in 2010, Captain Phil Harris was the larger-than-life ... read more

The exclusive, authorized biography of the late Deadliest Catch star, written by his two sons: “outrageous tales of a man who lived without restraint, like a modern-day mythical figure” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).The electrifying behind-the-scenes story of the Deadliest Catch star, from his own two sons Prior to his untimely death in 2010, Captain Phil Harris was the larger-than-life ... read more

Born a slave, Harriet Tubman was determined not toremain one. She escaped from her owners in Maryland onthe Underground Railroad in 1849 and then fearlesslyreturned thirteen times to help guide family membersand others to freedom as the most famous conductor ofthe Underground Railroad. As she proudly claimed, she“never lost a passenger.” Her bravery served her well inthe Union army, where she ... read more

Born a slave, Harriet Tubman was determined not toremain one. She escaped from her owners in Maryland onthe Underground Railroad in 1849 and then fearlesslyreturned thirteen times to help guide family membersand others to freedom as the most famous conductor ofthe Underground Railroad. As she proudly claimed, she“never lost a passenger.” Her bravery served her well inthe Union army, where she ... read more

Enter the Grishaverse with Book One of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashe... read more

Enter the Grishaverse with Book One of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashe... read more

When Daniel's class hatches chicks as a science project, he adopts them. When he finds out that his favorite bird, Peepers, isn't a hen but a rooster, and therefore illegal to keep in the city of Portland, the Secret Chicken Society is quickly formed to save Peepers. This warmhearted chapter book about an environmentally-conscious family will provide plenty of clucks and lots of chuckles for y... read more

When Daniel's class hatches chicks as a science project, he adopts them. When he finds out that his favorite bird, Peepers, isn't a hen but a rooster, and therefore illegal to keep in the city of Portland, the Secret Chicken Society is quickly formed to save Peepers. This warmhearted chapter book about an environmentally-conscious family will provide plenty of clucks and lots of chuckles for y... read more

When the Marquis de Lafayette ran off to join the American Revolution against the explicit orders of the king of France, he was a strong-willed nineteen-year-old who had never set foot on a battlefield. Although the U.S. Congress granted him an honorary commission only out of respect for his title and wealth, Lafayette quickly earned the respect of his fellow officers with his bravery, devotio... read more

When the Marquis de Lafayette ran off to join the American Revolution against the explicit orders of the king of France, he was a strong-willed nineteen-year-old who had never set foot on a battlefield. Although the U.S. Congress granted him an honorary commission only out of respect for his title and wealth, Lafayette quickly earned the respect of his fellow officers with his bravery, devotio... read more

George has 1 review

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Communication

George has been an excellent collaborator, fulfilling the contract but then going beyond by continuing to discuss the project and help me work through some of the more complicated changes. Since my book is about newspapers, and both George and I were newspaper people, we speak the same language and are in sync on journalistic issues. Some of his clarifications on theses issues have been invalua...